Surprise Return
by general zargon
Summary: One day, a giant metal dragon landed behind the guild. Yeah, that was weird even by Fairy Tail standards...in a good way, as it turns out. Rated T for a few curse words.


When Metalicana appeared in the sky above the guild, dropping down to land with enough force it felt like an earthquake for several moments, Gajeel was actually one of the only ones who _weren't_ there to see it.

The Iron Dragon resembled nothing so much as a metal mountain looming over the guild when Levy McGarden, Solid Script Mage and member of Fairy Tail, ran out the backdoor of the guild to see what had caused the huge impact. A broad head, bright eyes, a body covered in shining metal plates and sporting sharp metallic wings greeted her eyes. The petite blunette had spent at least five minute gawping like an idiot at the enormous form before she'd snapped out of it enough to realize that _oh my god_ she was looking at a real life dragon.

Behind her, Levy heard several of her guildmates fall to the ground in dead faints, having followed her outside to see what the commotion was. She couldn't say she really blamed them for the reaction, since she would have joined them if not for the fact that she recognized the veritable mountain of iron shifting behind the guild from Gajeel's stories. There was no doubt that she was looking at Metalicana, Gajeel Redfox's foster father, and she would sooner eat her own pen than make a bad impression in front of him!

She didn't pause to think about _why_ it was so important that she make a good first impression, instead craning her neck to look up at the metal leviathan and trying to take in the dragon's full appearance. It wasn't easy, since Metalicana looked intimidating even when he was just sitting there looking at the guild hall, but Levy could appreciate the hard beauty of the Iron Dragon's gleaming form just the same. She didn't have a lot of time to look over the dragon, as a minute later Master Makarov arrived, strolling up to the metal dragon as calm as you please before lifting a hand and saying, "Yo! Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

Levy felt a drop of sweat roll down the back of her head at how ridiculous that sounded, and Metalicana just stared at the diminutive (at the moment) old man before throwing back his head and letting out a sound that reminded Levy of the harsh sound of metal plates rubbing against each other. Obviously it was the Iron Dragon's version of laughter, and she felt her lips curl into a small smile because, for some reason, it reminded her of Gajeel's laughter, and she wasn't sure why that would make her smile, but there would probably be time to think on that later.

Shifting with the faint sound of metal scales sliding into each other, Metalicana laid down and lowered his head to look curiously at the amusing older wizard who had just welcomed him to his son's guild. Despite his appearance, the dragon knew, Makarov was a rather powerful mage and the leader of Fairy Tail, and Metalicana afforded him the respect due him for looking after his son. He said bluntly, "Thank you." and began looking around at the place Gajeel had claimed as his home, just because he was curious and definitely _not_ looking for his brat.

That was his story and he was sticking to it, damn it.

He had been discreetly keeping his ears out for news of his son ever since he'd left the boy, though at least he was more subtle about it than that hothead Igneel was, and he could honestly say that he hadn't known whether to be annoyed or relieved when he'd learned that his son had joined Fairy Tail. His son and Igneel's brat in the same guild...Grandine had certainly given them no end of grief over that, but _they_ had been the ones laughing when the Sky Dragon's daughter had wound up joining as well. Still, privately and in the depths of his mind, he was glad that Gajeel had had the sense to take the Master of Fairy Tail's offer and not go down a dark path by winding up in another guild like Phantom Lord.

Never had he regretted leaving the boy more than he had when he had heard whispers on the wind of what "Black Steel" Gajeel had done while a member of that borderline dark guild. So yes, in his opinion the Fairies were certainly the better choice for his son's guildmates than another dark guild, even if some of them _were_ a little crazy (and no, he wasn't talking about Igneel's brat, really).

Things had begun moving quickly after his boy had joined Fairy Tail, and finally Metalicana just hadn't been able to bring himself to stay where he had been holed up any longer, as much as he would deny it if asked. Hence why he was currently making himself comfortable behind the Fairies' guild hall and running a critical eye over the guild members who'd come out to see what was going on.

The Fairy Tail guild was an odd collection of characters to be sure, a vivid mash of colors and scents, vibrant and alive. Metalicana could see why the brat liked them so much, at least by his standards. The one with the fish-tail hairstyle and the giant hat still struck him as odd, if a bit of amusing because of the way they fainted at the sight of him, he thought with a soft snort of amusement. A subtle breath in, and the scent of old books, ink, paper, and an odd faint tinge of metal greeted his nose. It only took him a minute to find the source of that scent, a tiny blue-haired thing dressed in orange and wearing a thin pair of glasses. The girl didn't look like much at first glance, but the Iron Dragon hadn't lived to be as old as he was by being taken in by appearances, and the metal leviathan sensed that hidden beneath that fragile exterior was a spine of steel.

Now intrigued, especially when he recognized the source of the metal scent as belonging to his son, he rumbled lowly in his throat before asking, "So, where is that brat of mine? I would have thought he would have been out here cursing at me by now," Despite the seeming idleness of the remark, another subtle whiff of the scents around him told him that while Gajeel must spend a great deal of time in the guild hall, he wasn't there at the moment - and hadn't been there for about three or four days, by the dragon's estimation.

"Ah, I'm afraid Gajeel left for a mission several days ago. He should be back tomorrow, if you'd care to wait." Makarov said, inwardly sweating and hoping fervently that the dragon wouldn't decide to destroy a building in annoyance at the news. It was a reflex worry for him, considering all the times Natsu and Gajeel had wrecked the guild, and Metalicana was a _lot_ bigger than either of them...Oh yeah, the Master of Fairy Tail was visibly sweating bullets now.

Metalicana snorted in amusement at the nervous old man, and it was all he could do not to cackle when the hat-head and fish-tail regained consciousness only to faint again a second later. He looked down at the petite blue-haired girl who smelled like his son, and he inwardly smirked as he imagined the brat's face when he returned to find his foster father lounging behind his guild.

That mental image alone was enough to convince the dragon to stick around.

A voice from the ground caught his attention, and the dragon looked down to see that the small blunette that had caught his interest was the one who had made the noise just as the girl said, "Hello, sir, my name is Levy McGarden. I'm a Solid Script Mage, and it is an honor to meet you; Gajeel talks about you sometimes." There was a bashful smile on her face, but the dragon was honestly more surprised that his son had mentioned him at some point. The brat must have really felt close to this guild, and that impressed the metal behemoth more than anything.

And since Fairy Tail would use any excuse to get drunk and party, and apparently a dragon landing behind their guild was a celebration-worthy occasion, the next few hours were spent with Metalicana watching and laughing in amusement as the Fairies partied around him. They really were an amusing bunch, and the camaraderie between the guild members was obvious. Even the dragon found himself getting in on the fun as he was appointed referee in the three-way brawl between a Take-Over mage, a gun-magic wizard, and a wizard who used sand magic. He was a little impressed at how the wizards managed to beat each other to a pulp one minute and then help each other off the ground the next.

Of course, the petite Levy in particular impressed him when he found out that the girl could create carriage-sized words made of iron when he complained of being hungry after rebuffing an alcohol-smelling woman's attempts to get him to join her in a drinking game. Yes, he thought with a mouthful of tasty iron, he might actually start to like the Fairy Tail guild - and he could see why Gajeel already did.

He just hoped that his son returned before that hot-head Igneel managed to melt his way out of that iron cage Metalicana had trapped the fire dragon and sky dragon in before he'd left.

* * *

_Author's Note: *Is bundled up in a mountain of blankets* Brrrr, it's really cold where I am, which has pretty much killed my writing motivation at the moment, but I decided to post this to tide you guys over until I get my other plot bunnies in line. Thanks for being so patient! I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot, so please review and tell me what you thought! As always, constructive criticism is welcome._


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